Interactive displays of multiple images are quite common in today's user interfaces. One context in which such interactive displays are used is in the presentation of thumbnail images, which can be used to provide a user with a quick view of many images concurrently. Each thumbnail image is a reduced-size representation of an image; by presenting the images at reduced size, user interfaces are able to include many such images within a limited space such as a display window as presented on a display screen. The display of thumbnail images can be used to navigate among full-sized versions of the images.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical display 100 of thumbnail images 301 as presented in the context of an operating system window for viewing representations of files according to the prior art. Here, each thumbnail 301 represents a file containing image data, and the thumbnail 301 is presented as a reduced-size representation of the image data. Such a display allows a user to easily associate manipulable elements (thumbnails 301) with the underlying data that they represent, thus improving operation of direct-manipulation user interfaces. Thumbnails 301 also avoid the need for users to open and view full images one by one merely to determine which element represents which image. In many contexts, users can move, drag, scroll, and otherwise manipulate thumbnails 301 in a manner similar to the manipulation of on-screen icons; in fact, many existing user interfaces for operating systems now employ thumbnails 301 to replace or supplement icons in their interactive displays, particularly for files that represent visual data such as images.
Certain types of special effects can be applied to thumbnails 301. For example, it is known to provide animated thumbnails 301; one application is for thumbnails 301 representing video files, which may animate to show different frames within the video file. It is also known to present thumbnails 301 that change appearance when selected or highlighted, or when a user causes an on-screen cursor to hover over the thumbnail 301.